Also, in addition to this, “an increasingly popular commercial corn, genetically engineered to produce a bacterial toxin to protect against corn pests, has an unwanted side effect: Its pollen kills monarch butterfly larvae in laboratory tests, according to a report by Cornell University researchers.”

Because of this situation, I suggest we all contribute food and habitat to the butterflies if we can!

In most places, the fall is the perfect time for planting your wildflowers, that are rich in nectar and absolutely gorgeous in the spring. You want to find a place in the yard or garden, that is not mowed over the winter. Mix the wildflower seeds with sand and then scatter the seeds in the area that is going to left to rest and be un mowed until the flowers are grown and completely finished with their blooms. The sand will help the seeds stay on the earth and not be blown away. I do this every year, in addition to my normal garden. The flowers are absolutely gorgeous in the spring, and make the environment fantastically healthy also. I use organic, non-toxic gardening methods.

Butterflies and frogs are indicator species that show how healthy our environment is. If our environment lacks these species, then we need to make it healthier and less toxic.

For this reason, I do three things I feel are vitally important for the health and well-being of my garden, I always plant flowers that attract pollinators. I also avoid using pesticides, and provide clean drinking water for all creatures, including the pollinators. Pollinators and birds are attracted to moving water and so I have a drip fountain in my birdbath. This moving water (from the ripples) also prevents mosquitoes from laying eggs and proliferating. (Note: You can buy little battery run “wigglers” that can be put in water dishes and bird-baths,  that work really well creating ripples.)

When I plant my garden every year, ususally in the sping, I plant organic, heirloom, non-GMO seeds, because they grow fragrant, pollen-rich, and nectar-rich flowers that will provide food for the pollinators without harming them, like the GMO and hybrid plants (flowers) do.

These will provide safe, nourishing food for butterflies and draw more pollinators to my vegetable, fruits, and herbs. This helps the plants produce more food, and it makes my garden more beautiful to be in.

This is now more important than ever, because many GMO plants and hybrid flowers like the “knock-out roses” have flowers that have no nectar. 

Four species of large bumble bees are now extinct because they quite literally starved to death due to enormous areas full of flowers lacking pollen. I try my best to support the pollinators in our web of life: bees, hummingbirds, dragonflies, bats, and butterflies. Link: https://www.organichealthylife.com/butterflies-and-bees-make-our-lives-so-much-healthier-beautiful/

These fragile creatures do so much for the health of our environment, but they need our support. If you care about this, buy plants for your garden or landscaping that are rich in fragrance, pollen, and nectar.

Organic, native heirloom plants are always best. Heirloom plants have been handed down from generation to generation of gardeners in a region, so they have proven to do well in a particular soil and temperature.

If you inter-plant some of the flowering plants with your hedgerows, you will provide additional forage for pollinators of all kinds.

Stagger your plantings so there is enough food throughout the year.

Here are seven outstanding, nectar-rich flowering plants that attract butterflies and pollinators to keep your garden lovely, fragrant and environmentally healthy!

Butterfly Bush. The butterfly bush is a shrub that produces flowers of white, yellow, pink, and purple. The flower clusters are up to 15 inches long and have a delicate scent that attracts butterflies and hummingbirds to the garden. They require partial shade to full sun, and they grow up to eight feet tall. They are deer-resistant. They bloom from midsummer to the first frost.

Butterfly Weed. The butterfly weed is a pest-free perennial wildflower which is great for saving time and money. Its beautiful flowers are orange, red, and yellow. They grow about three feet tall and bloom from spring to early fall. With full sunlight and enough water, this easy-to-grow plant will produce beautiful, nectar-rich flowers. Monarch butterfly larvae prefer this food.

Keys of Heaven. Keys of heaven are a brilliant scarlet red that attracts butterflies and hummingbirds to your garden. This bushy plant grows at least three feet tall and makes a lovely border. It needs full sun. It will grow in early midsummer in hotter climates, and it will bloom all summer in cooler climates.

Joe-Pye Weed. The Joe-Pye weed is a large plant with nectar-rich, pink flowers. It is a butterfly favorite. It can produce many seeds that you can replant in more areas of your garden.

Sunflowers. Sunflowers come in many varieties. They are extremely easy to grow and are incredibly rich with nectar. They will keep blooming all summer long until the first freeze. They will reseed if you allow them that freedom. The best part is that they will provide beautiful flowers for your home all summer long.

Asters. Asters are a perennial flower that brightens up late-summer and fall gardens with its star-shaped blooms. There are more than 175 species found in North America with a huge variety of colors to choose from. They smell divine.

Dragon Flower. The dragon flower is an easy-to-grow perennial with gorgeous white or cream-colored flowers. They are very nectar-rich and will attract a wonderful array of life to your garden. The Monarch butterfly is particularly fond of these flowers. If you plant them with dill, which the Monarch butterfly caterpillar loves, you have a fabulous combination to help the Monarch butterfly.

A few more plants to add are marigolds, zinnias, violets, lilies, red penstemon, and crocuses. You can grow berries in your garden, or herbs such as lavender, sage, parsley, and dill. Butterflies love dill for their caterpillars.

I have some of the most beautiful Monarch butterfly caterpillars in my garden when I plant dill amongst my flowers. You can also plant female yaupon holly, poplar trees, and redbud trees.

To make your garden non-toxic and healthier, stop using pesticides! Pesticides kill our pollinators, poison the environment, destroy vital nutrients in the soil and the food we grow, and can cause nerve damage to anyone exposed to them. Their runoff pollutes our water, too.

Avoid using pesticides in your yard or garden.

On the environmental side, the weed killer, glyphosate, has virtually wiped out milkweed in Midwest corn and soybean fields, a major factor in the dramatic 20-year decline of monarch butterflies that depend on milkweed for food and reproduction.

It’s also important to provide safe, clean drinking water for all the wildlife, including the pollinators. Every living creature needs water to survive.

I put a drip on my birdbath, so it has a ripple which is easy for pollinators and hummingbirds to see. The ripple also prevents mosquitoes from breeding in the water, because mosquitoes only lay eggs in still, standing water.

I also put water on the ground to help the local wild animals have enough water to drink. It’s a web of life, and I try to support all the precious parts of that web that God gave us.

With these organic, healthy gardening tips, I hope you have a healthy and lovely garden!

Over the last few decades, a handful of agrichemical giants have acquired 65% of the world’s seed supply, so I recommend buying organic seeds you like, in bulk, and keeping them for your own personal use. I buy them to use for growing my sprouts, which I put in my salads.

Here are a few organic, non-GMO seed companies I recommend:

Heirloom wildflower seeds for spring, that you plant in the fall!

http://heirloomseeds.com/flower-seeds-heirloom/wildflower-seeds-heirloom/texas-oklahoma-wildflower-mix.html

Heirloom Seeds

Heirloom, Organic, Non-GMO Garden Seeds – Salad, Salsa, Fruit, Herb, Vegetable – Collection of 16 Non-Hybrid, Open Pollinated Seeds: Zucchini, Kale, Beet, Tomato –

Mountain Valley Seed Company

$21.99

100% CERTIFIED ORGANIC NON-GMO Culinary Herb Set – 12 popular Easy-to-Grow Herb Seeds by Zziggysgal

$13.99

Heirloom Garden Vegetable Seeds NON GMO Easy Growers

Veganseeds

$15.95

*100% USDA Organic* Highest Quality Non GMO Herb Seeds – Elegantly Designed Variety Packets and Instructions For Home Cooks – Product of U.S.A. – HOME CHEF HERBS – Ideal For Indoor and Outdoor Growing – No Gardening Experience Required – Start NowHome Chef Herbs

$14.95

Herb Garden – Organic Herb Seeds – Non GMO, Heirloom, Non Hybrid – 10 Culinary Varieties Including Basil, Cilantro, Fennel, Parsley and More

Rebel Gardens

$15.99

Notes: I made a short organic gardening video if you wish to view it, click here.

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Then I thought about the roses that people are planting now, (called “knock out roses”) that have NO nectar, and thus are starving our precious pollinators to death.

And I also thought about Monsanto, DuPont, Dow Chemical, Crop Life America and Bayer, who are all making insecticides called neonicotinoids, that are decimating the pollinator populations by poisoning them to death.

Monsanto and Dow also are now producing new milkweed-killing herbicides, and these will destroy our monarch butterfly populations. Milkweed is their favorite food and vital to their survival.  What would a world be without butterflies? Why are they poisoning their food supply? They are such fragile creatures and how much hardship can they take?

Please join in and help stop this annihilation of our precious web of life.

This is very serious.  I appreciate everyone who has signed my  petition to stop these poisonous neonicotinoids.  I am asking for your assistance now to contact everyone you know to please take a moment and sign this petition.  Please help me reach my goal of 250,000 signatures, which I feel we need in order to get the EPA’s attention.  Right now, we are at 137,000 signatures.

It is so important that everything we do each day helps to sustain and heal and nourish the environment, not destroy it.

If you know anyone who has roses, please inform them about the knock-out roses, that are devoid of nectar.  Butterflies are attracted to them, and when they get there, there is no food.   All that is needed is a little research, to find the best roses to plant that will provide food and nectar for our pollinators.

I contacted Texas A & M University (where I studied landscape architecture and where these roses were developed) more than a few times and they said there is no research to show how this is affecting the environment.  But from my own studies, the large bumblebees were becoming extinct over 27 years ago (3- 4 species are now extinct) from the plants with no nectar (many are GMO and some are hybrid like the knock –out roses) causing them to starve to death. These knock-out roses are now planted all over urban environments in enormous quantities and areas.

I think universities and companies also need to do environmental impact studies on all of their new technologies. At this time, there are no requirements for these at any of the schools that I know of.  I think it would be wise for all universities or schools to require courses on environmental impact for all of their engineers, chemists, inventors, etc. as part of their curriculum. I also feel it would be prudent for universities and companies to be required to preform environmental and health impact studies on all of their inventions and chemicals they are proposing to use. We are all so closely intertwined with each other and what we do does impact the earth and all of it’s inhabitants.

Just a thought.

Thank you sincerely for helping to add to our signatures, because by making more people aware, our world will become a healthier place in which to live.

Sign My Petition Today- Click Here

Also, look at what is happening with Monsanto!

https://fdn.actionkit.com/donate/Monsantos_stock_is_Falling_help_push_them_off_the_cliff/?t=3&akid=1679.129696.jRuKlD

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